The new orange tree ‘Carninka’ originated as a whole tree mutation of a ‘Palmer’ navel orange tree (not patented). The mutation was discovered in 2005 in a commercial orchard of ‘Palmer Navel’ trees on ‘Swingle’ citrumelo rootstock (not patented) at Patensie, South Africa, and was distinguished by its markedly late maturity as compared to other navel orange trees, even those considered to be late-maturing. Asexual propagation by budding was first carried out in 2005 at Patensie to determine whether the desirable characteristics of the mutation would carry through to asexually propagated progeny. It has been found that the desirable characteristics are in fact reproduced through asexual propagation, and remain stable through successive generations.
‘Carninka’ is a new and distinct orange tree notable for its late maturity as compared to ‘Palmer Navel’ and other late maturing orange varieties.